Look Park (Florence, MA)

Date Of Visit: September 15, 2018

Location: 298 Main St, Florence (Northampton), MA

Hours: 7 a.m. until dusk

Cost:

January 1-March 31
No charge on weekdays; $5 on weekends

April 1-Columbus Day Weekend
$7 on weekdays; $9 on weekends, holidays

After Columbus Day Weekend-December 31
$3 on weekdays; $5 on weekends

Seasonal passes and bracelets can also be purchased

There are additional modest fees for riding the steam train, renting pavilions and playing mini golf.

Parking: There are several parking areas for about a couple hundred cars.

Park Size/Difficulty: 150 acres/easy

Handicapped Accessible: Yes

Dog Friendly: Yes

Website: Look Memorial Park

Highlights:

tennis courts, waterfall, family friendly, train, athletic fields, pond, bridges, wildlife, trees, water spray park, flowers, zoo, playgrounds,mini golf course, garden house

If you’re looking for a fun time look no further than Look Park in Florence (a village in Northampton), MA.

Although it has so much to offer from athletic fields to tennis courts to a train that carries visitors throughout the park, Look Park is one of the more overlooked parks in western MA.  OK, I’ll stop with the word play now.

One of the first things that will catch your eye is the water fountain at Look Park. The fountain which is located along the entrance to the park, has multicolored tiles in the background and Frank Newhall Look Memorial Park inscribed on the concrete wall.

Frank Newhall Look, the person who the park is named after, was the chief executive of the Prophylactic Brush Company, Florence, from 1877 to 1911.  His wife, Fannie Burr Look, provided the land, money to develop the land and a trust fund for future upkeep and maintenance.  No tax payers money is used for the upkeep of the park.  Entry fees, donations and proceeds from their concession concessions enabl the Board of Trustees to keep the park open and ensure tax payer money is not used to keep the park running.

One of the treasures of the park are the trees and flowers.  Many of these trees like those shown below have tags or signs on or near them stating the name of the tree and some facts about them.

This tree which seems to have two trees (stems) growing out of the same trunk (known as codominant stems), is a Paper Birch White Birch tree.  The sign on the tree states that native Americans used the birch from this type of tree which can grow to as much as 70 feet, to make their lightweight birchbark canoes.

In fact, there are beautiful plants and trees throughout the park.

Tall trees abound in the park.  To get some perspective of just how tall these trees are, take a look at this man walking by this tree.

This tree was dedicated to Grace and Iris.

But, Look Park has much more than flowers and trees.  There is also a pond and a stream that runs through the park

Mill River runs parallel to the park.

There is also a variety of wildlife at the park.  Who knew geese knew how to read signs!

In addition to the animals you may see roaming the park, there are also animals in the Christenson Zoo.  Christenson Zoo is more of a sanctuary than a zoo.  All of the raptors in the zoo have been rescued and would not be able to survive in the wild due to their injuries.

One of my favorite parts of the park are the bridges.  The covered bridges.

Birdhouses that look like actual houses are located in the park.

Another one of the cool features at the park is the steamer train that takes passengers in a loop around the park.

If you don’t like train rides, you can go on this train slide.

Or, give the pedal boats a try.

Pavilions can also be rented for large parties.

One of the other family friendly attractions at the park, the water spray park, was not working during my visit possibly because it was late in the summer season.

There are historic reminders at the park.  A sign along one of the trails shows how high the waters crested to during the hurricane of 1938.  It’s hard to imagine the water being so high!

Dogs are welcome at Look Park.  The level trails and open spaces at Look Park are sure to make any dog happy.  I met two of these happy dogs during my visit.

Beau is a 4 and a half year old Pyranese.

Clyde is a 3 year old hound mix.

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